With the economy as bad as it is now, people are losing their jobs for two reasons:
1. The company they work for has gone bankrupt and has to let all their employees go. For example, when Circuit City closed it doors last week, it also laid off 34,000 employees.
2. Companies are trying to reduce cost during these tough economic times. For example, software industry giant Microsoft Corp. announced in its earnings statement earlier today that they are in the process of eliminating upto 5,000 jobs as a cost cutting measure. Now Microsoft is in an overall much better financial position that most other companies. Microsoft layoffs mean that no matter how stable your company is, they may still decide to cut your job.
I haven’t given much thought yet about what one can do if they have already lost their job. I promise to make that the subject of a future post.
But, for this post, let’s talk about those of us who still have a job but are worried about how to ensure that they are okay even if their job gets eliminated. My ideas are:
1. Work hard and work smart. This is NOT a time to be slacking off. Get to work on time. Leave a little later if needed.
2. Make sure your contributions are seen by management.
3. Talk to your manager, find out what you can do better, and do it.
4. Stay attuned to rumors and gossips about layoffs. They can be a good indicator of when you should start looking for a new position.
5. Cut expenses and put the savings in a safe savings account:
a. Now is probably the time to get rid of those pesky subscription services like cable TV, XM/Sirius radio etc.
b. Eat out less. One restaurant meal (depending on the restaurant) can buy upto one week’s worth of groceries.
c. Brown bag your lunch. It takes me around $1.5 to make the sandwich my office cafeteria sells for $5.
d. If possible, take the bus or carpool to reduce how much gas you use. With gas prices on the increase, if you can cut down on driving to work, you can save a bunch.
e. Spend carefully. Now is perhaps not the time to buy that beautiful $150 cashmere sweater you saw at Nordstrom.
6. Don’t be completely dependent upon your job for your survival – start an alternative source of income. Some ideas I have include:
a. getting a second job
b. creating a website/blog and monetizing it
c. investing in a rental property that generates income
d. investing in high yield bonds, dividends from stocks/mutual funds etc.
e. selling hand crafted items on ebay (you gotta be talented enough to make nice things to do this)
I am pretty much doing items 1 to 5 now. I have yet to start an alternative source of income. I do have a blog (this one) – perhaps it is time to monetize it. So if you see ads on this blog in the near future, click on them – they may save my life one day 
